In addition, I have discovered that the Rio Maipo, which originates in Argentina, comes through an opening in the Andes, and goes right through a southern suburb of Santiago, is a candidate. An embarkation point is El Melcoton in El Cajon del Maipo. The waters look too brown to me to be the right place. The Rio Yeso, which originates in the same general area, has much bluer water, but I haven't tracked its whitewater activity yet.

As scoop0 says, the blue in the Futafeulu looks much like the blue we see in the snap of what we now know to be Episode 3 rafting. However, the time to get in and out of there still is a total stumbling block.

the proximity of Rio Puelo and Rio Manso to Puerto Montt make them a good possibility. Due to the Rio Manso being Class V, the Rio Puelo appears to be the most likely of all the above rivers if it has a blue or turquosie color.

scoop0, you have special insight into that area. Do you know anythign about Rio Puelo?

Watch as the emerald Nordenskjold Lake at the base of the mountains pours through roaring Salto Grande (“Grand Waterfall”) into Pehoé Lake, a grand lake in its own right and a great spot to study the Cuernos del Paine (“Horns of Paine”). Drive along the bank of the lake to Salto Chico (“Little Waterfall); stroll through an old lenga forest; enjoy a picnic watching giant chunks of ice, pieces of the nearby Grey Glacier, drift along the Grey Lake. If times allows, visit Amarga Lagoon for yet another breathtaking view of the park’s iconographic Torres del Paine.

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The small channel between Nordenskjold Lake and Pehoe Lake. The two lakes are at different altitude and the channel forms this little but very impressive waterfall, Salto Grande.

Maybe this is where they go white water rafting? In Torres del Paine National Park?

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« Last Edit: February 26, 2007, 12:45:19 AM by georgiapeach »

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The flights into Puerto Montt are no problem, but giong on to Chaitan would be. They only have a single airstrip there that can accommodate planes carrying up to 12 passengers give or take a few. They also have strict weight limits. The planes are always full with rafters, sport fishermen and avid climbers. The Chaitan airport is frequently socked in with fog and people may or may not get there on a specific day. In addition, the drive from Chaitan to the put-in takes about 3 hours.

Also, one rafting company owns the land around Rio Futaleufu and allows only a couple other outfitters to raft there. It's a class 5+ river and you have to pass a fairly rigorous test to be able to go down the river. All these things point to them not rafting there, as it would take well over a day just to get there, not to mention everything involved with actually being on the river.

However, the vid cap looked eerily like the "Fu", with its aqua color (coming from the copper in the mountains). There aren't many rivers that are that color - most are brownish.

That being said - I wish they were going there. It is absolutlely one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen and the rafting is the best ever. I'm looking forward to seeing where it actually is (so I can raft there too!)

Thanks for letting me give my $0.02.

If Puerto Montt is where the racers enter Patagonia, the Volcano Osorno area is certainly in play again, as we come full circle back to the intro flash vidcap search. I kinda figured the rafting was in S.A., and now I see how it can be tied in with the Punta Arenas spoiler.

This will be a follow-up on my post from yesterday speculating on the routes to be used for legs 2, 3, and 4. This is going to have a lot of detail in airline schedules, so if that bores you tune out. For leg 2 from Quito to each of the three Atacama desert cities, there are these possibilities for flying, all but two involving an overnight flight from Quito through Santiago:

If I'm reading the Ep. 3 thread correctly, this is speculated to be the 2nd part of a TBC? Seems unlikely, but if true, then the spoiled order of eliminated teams could be wrong. Just hoping that the Rob/Amber not getting out of SA still holds.

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just dance~*~I don't understand the question, and I won't respond to it.

Is it possible that the two detour choices here are the flounder and the rock climb, and the roadblock is the white water rafting? Looking at this image, doesn't it seem like Danielle is holding a clue with something yellow on it? (Credit to whoever originially posted it. )

But then again, that could just be the envelope. Although why did Eric take off his jacket, if maybe to help/jump afterwards, kind of like what happened in the "By Machine (?)" detour from Ep. 2. Or maybe he just took of his jacket because of the heat.

Just my rambling/speculations.

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just dance~*~I don't understand the question, and I won't respond to it.

..and yellow clue means detour . I'm sold Chateau cripes am I going to have to move everything again

PUDDIN, don't be so quick to act on that. That's because there is a fifth activity that we already know about in the USHUAIA area, the zodiac boats that should have to be part of a TBC leg. Also, what do the teams do after the zodiac boats on Nov. 26 and before the pitstop late on Nov. 27? Finally, why wouldn't whitewater rafting and rock climbing be alternate detours in the Puerto Montt area?

The first two legs of AR11 have been about airplane flights and long stretches of driving, with very few ROADBLOCKS and DETOURS. It's about time that we have an episode with some action. I believe that episode 3 is that episode without being a double leg, but i guess we'll see.

The probability that whitewater rafting is somewhere near PUERTO MONTT has gone way up. This also means that the waterfall is probably the Rio Petrohue and the Volcano is Osorno, both in the vicinity of Puerto Montt. I am going to guess that the alternate DETOUR to whitewater rafting is ROCK CLIMBING, so teams do not have to do both.

The most logical flights into and out of Puerto Montt given tthe context of the race are:

Depart Calama on LAN 355/391 to SCL 1910 to 2105

Depart SCL to PMC on LAN 261 2355 to 0135

I assume that the activities in the Puerto Montt area will take all morning and maybe part of the afternoon.

The Tres Monjas mountain looms over the valley to river left. On river right, the turquoise water of the Rio Azul flows from the ice-capped glaciated peaks that form at its headwaters. An inviting white sandy beach marks the entrance of ClubFuta at Campo Tres Monjas.

The Río Azul (Rafting, Kayaking, Fly- Fishing, trekking) This river runs into the Futaleufu on river right shore next to our camp. This glacier-fed river can range between 600 to 2000 cfs, depending on rain and snowmelt in the mountains. This is a great warm-up for the Class 3/4 kayaking trips. The Azul is a great alternate river for when the Futaleufu is too high. Technical and defined, the Río Azul takes its name from the aquamarine colored water. This is great fish habitat for the native rainbow trout.

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